News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-03-03
EMANCIPATION FROM THE RAZOR,
How Boards Were Made Popular BY Cali.
fornia PIoneeIs-Talk of an Old Forty


"The early gold seekers IN California
conferred a benefit upon the country
unconsciously it is true-which | have
never seen mentioned, but for which
the Younger generation can hardly be
grateful ough
The speaker was one of the old Forty
miners; he was speaking of the annual
| dinner of the Associated Pioneers of
California, which he had attended.
"When | was young man." he con.
tinued, "no one in any part of the
United States with which was acquaint-
ed was permitted to wear beard
| There was an unwritten law against it
which was more strictly obeyed than
| the statutes against murder or robbery.
A man with full, flowing beard such
as may be seen anywhere in a walk of
| five minutes, would hay9 been followed
and hooted at by a I'D of boys in
any New England town; while mus
tache was an open confession that the
wearer was a rowdy and a social outlaw.
| The wearer would not have been admit
ted to membership in any church, nor
unless he was a military officer received
| into any respectable circle Side whisk-
ers could be worn, or chin whiskers
but the lines were drawn against the
complete thing or the shaded upper lip
by public opinion so strong that it
seemed immutable.
"The gold excitement broke out, and
in almost every town and village there
were some who caught the fever and
started for the land of promise. We
had hard time of it; the fortunate
fellows just as hard time as the
unfortunate, except for the courage that
success brings. There was no leisure,
and little inducement for self adorment
in the absence of women. We got care.
less about observing the rules of our old
civilized life, and one of the first
evidences of this was that one after
another we stopped shaving. 1t took
too much time, and our razors got dull,
or our bits of looking-glass lost or
broken; and soon every mining camp
on the coast was filled with full bearded
men.
Early in the 'ffties, the men who
had left wives and children or sweet
hearts at home, and who had raked
together few thousand dollars, began
to return; some to bring their families
back and others to pay off tie mortgages
on their farms and remain. We had
been free from the the trammels of the
old civilization long enough to be in
different to some of its arbitrary rules;
and then we were conccited enough to
think that our adventures had given us
the right to be recognized as heroes, and
didn mind wearing a sort of distin-
gushing badge. So large number of
us returned to our old homes with much
the same appearance that we had in the
mines.
"We were decidedly picturesque
lot, I suppose, and, wherever we went,
were Immediately recognized as returned
gold -diggers, and received the respect
among our old neighboIs that our sup
posititious wealth-alas only suppOsit-
tious in many cases-commanded. In
no very long time there were few towns
in which there were not several returned
CalifOrnians; and, as the novelty of full
boards began to wear off, the real i'm
provement which .saEr6e eaade in some
men was seen. Hugh jawcd, long lip.
ped men came back absolutely hand
some. Then the doctors entered the
field-young men with weak lungs and
bronchial troubles seemed to be cured.
At first the climate of California and the
exposure of camp life obtained the
credit; but after winter at home it
was believed that the protection given
by the beard should share the credit;
and soon many of the physicians, espec-
tally in New-England, advised their
patients to cease shaving. The innov-
alton now made its way rapidly.